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Perkins claims first win

First year Perkins coach Jason Ziegler finally got the proverbial monkey off his back, against a team he coached last year no less.

Fandy.com Staff

Sep 27, 2010

First year Perkins coach Jason Ziegler finally got the proverbial monkey off his back, against a team he coached last year no less. After three close games in the first four weeks of the season, his Pirates still didn’t have a win to show for all their hard work.
Until last night.
Perkins used a solid ground game and an efficient passing attack to win its first game of the year, beating “crosstown” rival St. Mary CC 29-8 in Sandusky Bay Conference action.
“I feel so good for our seniors,” Ziegler said. “They’ve been working and plugging away, and have not put their heads down at all. We’ve lost a lot of close ones and this feels good.”
Senior running back Richard Hohler was the go-to guy for the Pirates (1-4, 1-1 SBC), grinding out 162 yards on 31 carries. He scored on a five-yard run and two 1-yard plunges, his last touchdown coming with 11:11 left in the game to put Perkins up 29-0. After that score, his work was done for the night.
After rushing for 88 yards on 20 carries in last week’s 12-9 set back to SBC foe Oak Harbor, Hohler got untracked against the Panthers (1-4, 0-2) and didn’t look back.
“He’s our guy,” Ziegler said of the 5-foot-8, 180-pound running back. “We wanted to continue to run him and run him. He’s a workhorse. He’s our guy and our line blocked well. It was a total team effort, and he’ll be the first to tell you that.”
It didn’t start out so well for the Pirates, who promptly took the opening kickoff and managed just one yard of offense in three plays before punting. After St. Mary drove the field in 13 plays before finally having to punt, Perkins found its rhythm.
By halftime, the Pirates opened up a 14-0 lead and Hohler already had 127 yards on 23 attempts. The Perkins passing game was effective, too, as sophomore Brandon Smith went 7-for-9 for 115 yards and a score. His favorite target was Michael Ebert, who grabbed three passes for 86 yards, one for a touchdown.
Midway through the third quarter Ebert jumped to snag a throw from Smith at the Panther 15, shook off two defenders, and turned it into a 33-yard touchdown. Ebert also recorded three sacks on defense.
The Perkins defense limited St. Mary to just 82 total yards, and forced the Panthers into eight straight punts before a lost Pirate fumble allowed the Panthers to get on the board with 2:52 to play. Jon Sciarappa scored from seven yards out to avert the shutout.
“It’s getting a little frustrating,” said first-year Panther coach Ryan Wikel. “At some point it needs to come from the kids. We’re just so inconsistent and doing our own thing at times. We’re making mistakes at the wrong time. We’re not good enough offensively to make mistakes and make up yards.
“(But) we’re not quitting, we are competing. The kids play hard.”
While Ziegler is happy to finally get one in the win column, he knows his Pirates must keep getting better, too.
“I’m really proud of our guys, but we’ve still got to fix the little things,” Ziegler said. “It’s still a win and I’ll take a win any way.”
St. Mary 0 0 0 6 — 6
Perkins 0 14 7 8 — 29
P — Richard Hohler 5 run (JJ Gasteier kick)
P — Hohler 1 run (Gasteier kick)
P — Michael Ebert 33 pass from Brandon Smith (Gasteier kick)
P — Hohler 1 run (Gasteier kick)
SM — Jon Sciarappa 7 run (run failed)
SM P
First Downs 6 14
Rushes-Yards 31-69 45-189
Passing-Yards 20 117
Comp-Att-Int 13-4-0 10-8-1
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties-Yards 3-23 4-31
RUSHING
St. Mary — Patrick Sennish 10-(-9), Wyatt Dye 3-7, Brandon Green 16-62, Matt Good 1-2, Sciarappa 1-7. Perkins — Hohler 31-162, Mitchell Benkey 2-9, Austin Sparks 1-11, Joey Snyder 1-(-1), Spencer Matthias 1-0, Brody Rupp 9-8.
PASSING
St. Mary — Sennish 10-4-0-0, Alex Guerra 3-0-0-0. Perkins — Smith 9-7-1-1, Seth Bryant 1-1-0-0.
RECEIVING
St. Mary — Cameron Weiss 1-10, Andrew Carruthers 1-(-1), Adam Guerra 1-6, Ethan Sennish 1-5. Perkins — Snyder 1-6, Michael Ebert 3-86, Josh Gerold 1-10, Evan Laser 1-13, Dominic Capucini 1-2.